Always Evolving
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It’s no secret that the CLF is willing to try new things and risk mistakes to reach more people with a Unitarian Universalist message of hope, love, and justice. Read more →
Mistakes
May 2015
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” —Scott Adams
Articles
Perils of Perfection
An overachiever’s high-stress lifestyle was causing a whole complex of stress-related issues: migraines, backaches, heart palpitations, and climbing blood pressure. Alarmed, her doctor told her she needed to slow down and learn to relax. Read more »
Imperfection: The Perfect Spirituality
My youngest sister Beth was very talented physically. When she was seven she could roller skate across the basement, up the stairs, down the steep driveway and the steeper hill of the road with perfect balance and grace. But she was very shy. Read more »
Want More?
If you enjoy the ways in which Monthly Quest gets you thinking, come join the conversation on Facebook—search for the CLF Quest Monthly Theme Discussion Group. Read more »
Always Evolving
It’s no secret that the CLF is willing to try new things and risk mistakes to reach more people with a Unitarian Universalist message of hope, love, and justice. Read more »
The Healing Moment
Each day I am newly reminded of my unworthiness: a dozen thoughts misspoken; another day when the good I do falls so far short of the good that I could do… Read more »
The Imperfectionist
The reason I’ve been able to produce so much is that I’m not a perfectionist— I’m an imperfectionist. Read more »
From Your Minister
Mistakes. The longer I live, the more clearly I know that I’ll never quit making them. So, one skill that I have honed to a fine point is that of apologizing. Read more »
REsources for Living
Contrary to popular belief, there is something to be said for failings and foibles. After all, mistakes are the basis of our whole diverse, ever-changing, interdependent web of life. Read more »
Afterward
Afterward, we want to say, But can’t we do that over? Say, But it was a mistake! Read more »
Mistakes
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” —Scott Adams Read more »
Did You Know?
That the CLF shop has a variety of items, from chalice jewelry to note cards, that make perfect end of year gifts for volunteers? Read more »
Blessing after a Mistake
After a mistake how can we start over and move forward?
(adapted from Rev. Rob
Eller-Issacs Litany of
Atonement)
When we are hurting;
I forgive you,
I forgive myself,
We begin again in love
John Murray and the Winds of Change
You never know what the wind will blow in or which way the wind blows. The wind can change directions and maybe change your life. It happened to John Murray. As a young man, John Murray had excellent fortune blow his way. He had a fine education, a steady job, a loving wife, and a young son. Life was good. Then, suddenly, everything changed. John Murray’s wife and their son became sick and died. John lost his job, lost all his money, and was put in jail because he could not pay his bills.
John was a very religious man, a Universalist, who had even preached about a loving God. Now, he was not so sure what he believed. He felt his life was over. Friends urged him to go someplace where he could start again.
He sailed for America on a ship named the Hand In Hand. The wind blew the ship toward their destination, New York. But then, fog rolled in and the ship ran aground in New Jersey instead. John and a few others volunteered to leave the ship, go on land, and get directions and supplies.
As he was walking ashore, John saw a farmhouse with a small chapel or church beside it. It belonged to Thomas Potter. Thomas Potter greeted John, gave him food for everyone on the ship, and invited John to come back and have dinner with him that night.
When John came back, Thomas Potter showed him the chapel. Thomas Potter said that he believed in a loving God who wanted to accept all people into heaven. John said that he believed the same thing. Thomas Potter told John that he had built the chapel and was waiting for God to send him a minister. “You, John, are that minister. I have waited for you a long time”.
John did not want to hear this. He was not a preacher anymore and he was determined to never preach again. Yet, Thomas Potter seemed confident that John was the Universalist preacher he waited for and he asked John to preach on Sunday. “I can’t preach on Sunday,” said John, “because as soon as the wind changes, my boat will set sail and I must be on it.”
“If the boat has not sailed by Sunday, will you preach?” asked Thomas Potter.
“If I am still here on Sunday, I will preach,” said John Murray.
Now, what do you think happened? Did the wind blow? Did the Hand In Hand sail away, taking John Murray with it?
No wind blew.
No ship sailed.
John Murray preached on Sunday morning, September 30, 1770, in the chapel Thomas Potter built for him many years before.
The Universalist message of the power of love was good news to many who heard. It was good news for John. The winds of change blew yet again for John Murray. He now wanted to preach more than anything and he did, for many years, and helped found Universalism in America. He is one of the ancestors of our faith home and we, as Unitarian Universalists, owe a special thanks to Thomas Potter. It was his hospitality that brought John Murray back to the pulpit. We also owe a special thanks to the wind that blew him in and would not blow him out.
From the UUA’s Tapestry of Faith Curriculum.
Did You Know?
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That the CLF shop has a variety of items, from chalice jewelry to note cards, that make perfect end of year gifts for volunteers? Read more →
Healing
April 2015
“Healing yourself is connected with healing others.” —Maya Angelou
Articles
The Healing Touch
For most of my childhood and adult life, I had been very dismissive of miracles portrayed in the New Testament, including the healing stories. Read more »
Notice of Annual Meeting
Per Article VII, Sections 1 and 2, of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) Bylaws, the 42nd Annual Meeting will be held via conference call and screen sharing on June 18, 2015 at 6:00PM Eastern Time. Read more »
We Go to the Sea
When my dad was a kid, his father had a stroke. Everyone in their church clucked their tongues. It’s too bad, they said, that God had seen fit for that to happen. Read more »
Praying in the Wind
Today, howling winds, too often heard in these parts, tear through the glass windows sealed for comfort. Incorrigible. Read more »
Healing
Don’t speak to me of “healing” racism, Or “wounded souls” or the “painful hurt” Until you are willing to look at my skin Read more »
From Your Minister
I told someone with a long-term illness—in this person’s case, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)—that I was writing a column on healing. Healing, she said. I’ve come to dislike that word intensely. Read more »
REsources for Living
There are plenty of things to wonder about in the Easter story, but here’s one of them. If Jesus was a miracle healer, someone who cured everything from blindness to skin disease, someone who even raised a man from the dead, then why didn’t he heal himself? Read more »
A Refuge of Spiritual Reflection
Quest Monthly is a refuge of spiritual reflection for thousands, and CLF’s online presence has been a healing sanctuary for many across the globe. Read more »
Did You Know…
Did you know that archived CLF online worship services are available to view at any time? Search on YouTube for “Church of the Larger Fellowship” and click on the “Playlists” tab. Read more »
A Tomb Is No Place to Stay
A tomb is no place to stay, Be it a cave in the Judaean hills Or the dark cavern of the spirit. Read more »
A Refuge of Spiritual Reflection
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Quest Monthly is a refuge of spiritual reflection for thousands, and CLF’s online presence has been a healing sanctuary for many across the globe. Read more →
Did You Know…
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Did you know that archived CLF online worship services are available to view at any time? Search on YouTube for “Church of the Larger Fellowship” and click on the “Playlists” tab. Read more →
Courage
March 2015
“Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. ” —Maya Angelou
Articles
Courage
“Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. ” —Maya Angelou Read more »
The Cadence of Courage
Arianna Huffington, the noted author and popular pundit, wrote a book entitled On Becoming Fearless. In it, she observed that too many women and girls today are afraid to be themselves. Read more »
Living with a Courageous Heart
Anyone can slay a dragon, she told me, But try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That’s what takes a real hero. Read more »
Standing Like a Tree
Perhaps you remember the story about Antoinette Tuff. She’s the woman in Atlanta, Georgia, who was working in the main office of an elementary school when a man burst in with an automatic rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition. Everyone got out, thanks to her. Read more »
The Courage to Endure
One of the things I miss most about home is having a comfortable place to sit. It isn’t something most people think about, but over time, it becomes more and more important. Read more »
From Your Minister
The older I get, the crankier I am about fear. My own fear, other people’s fear. I can see back across decades to all of the times when I have stood moving my lips soundlessly like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz while some disembodied voice thundered, “QUIET!” Read more »
REsources for Living
A few months back 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Read more »
To Risk Going Too Far
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” —T. S. Eliot Read more »
When Things Fall Apart
When things fall apart and we can’t get the pieces back together, when we lose something dear to us, when the whole thing is just not working… Read more »
Did You Know?
That you can join a lively conversation on the theme of this issue in a Facebook group? Read more »
